


Scream At The Drunken Moon

by orphan_account



Series: The Kids in the Dark [1]
Category: All Time Low, Black Veil Brides, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Of Mice & Men (Band), Panic! at the Disco, Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, I just can't be bothered listing them, IT'S GONNA BE SAD AND IM SORRY, M/M, Soul Bond, The rest of these bands are in it too, no i'm not, people die okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:55:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3776251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaime is just a puppy when he meets the vampire; when he meets his Bond. Just as everything finally seems to be going well for them, they find themselves in the middle of a violent war between their two species and the humans.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>AKA I'm sick of same-old vampire/werewolf stories, so I stole the stereotypical plotlines and murdered them, along with half my characters because I'm a sadist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This Is Just The Prologue/Bones Exposed

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a prologue, and this scene will be extended later in the story.

The tension in the field is palpable; the Rebels skulking amongst the scraggly trees to the North, and the Guild marching steadily towards them from the South, the marram grass whispering softly against their legs. Alan and Tino nearly break the tree line when they see Austin, beaten and bloody and being held upright in Mike’s iron grip. Tony holds them back with a glare, and an arm around Vic’s waist as he snarls at his brother from across the field.

Andy halts the Guild with a single pale hand raised from the folds of his robe, Ashley hovering excitedly by his elbow in wolf form, always keen for a fight. There’s a ripple in the grass, and the Guild stops halfway across the field, fanning out tree to tree and cutting off any routes of escape towards the town. “Hello,” Andy says softly, blue eyes glinting in the morning sun. “It’s funny. I was under the impression that this was to be a peaceable meeting.” His deep voice rolls smoothly across the grass, and all the wolves in the trees shudder, a sudden icy chill running down their spines.

“It is,” Tony replies, stepping into a clearing between two oaks and levelling his gaze on his fellow vampire. “We just want our man back.”

There’s a snort, and everyone’s attention snaps to Mike, who smirks and tightens his fingers around Austin’s biceps.

Andy’s eyes flick over to Mike, and the vampire loosens his hold slightly. “It seems to me that you have come to face us with your entire force.” He gestures to the trees. “I can smell the wolves, and feel the power of the vampire’s charms. Step forwards all of you!” His voice rises slightly, the authority ringing in the air as his eyes glow slightly.

The vampires in the trees stumble into the field, Compelled, except Vic, one of his many charms protecting him form Andy’s Compulsion spell. Confused, the wolves slink out after their undead friends, all in their wolf form aside from Jaime, who steps up beside Tony and curls a hand around his mate’s arm, nosing his shoulder with a whine.

Alan whimpers, his ginger fur turned gold in the light, desperately wanting to get to Austin.

“We have not come to fight you,” Tony announces, voice determined as he soothes Jaime with a hand in his hair. “We just want our friend back.”

“Him?” Andy asks coyly, a grimace-like smile on his angled face as he gestures to Austin. “The one who killed my right hand man and left two of my wolves on their deathbed?”

There’s a distressed noise from Jack as he suddenly notices that Alex is missing from Andy’s other side, and Zack and Rian’s dark forms are not with Andy’s wolves. He paws at the ground, ears flicking back. Jake nudges the smaller wolf in the side with his muzzle, an empathetic look in his usually-hollow eyes. Andy laughs and he’s at Jack’s side in a blur, the wolf’s large muzzle held in his slender hand, forcing him to look up. “Puppy,” he coos tauntingly. “Didn’t they tell you you’re the last of your pack?”

Tony grabs Andy’s wrist, both wincing as the protection charms inked into their arms flare red. Letting go, Tony steps back and Andy relinquishes his hold on Jack’s face and the wolf sinks to the ground, whimpering into his paws.

“Just give Austin back,” Tony growls, stepping in front of Jack and holding his head up. “Give him back and we’ll part ways with no one else getting hurt.”

Andy leans into Tony’s space. “Now, why should I do that?”

Tony pushes him away, ignoring the spike of pain from the charms. Jaime appears at his side, slipping his hand into Tony’s and pulling. Tony looks down at their interlinked hands and smiles softly before sliding his eyes back to Andy. “Because no one else needs to lose a friend today.”

Sighing, like it’s a real hardship, Andy turns and nods. “Let him go Michael. Give them back their giant.”

When Mike pulls his hands back and Austin stumbles forwards, the Rebels all let out barks and exclamations of joy, but Tony narrows his eyes, suspicious at the lack of resistance from any of the Guild members. Austin limps towards them and Alan trots forwards a few paces to meet him, tail wagging slightly. Tony keeps his eyes on Andy as Austin collapses next to Alan, arms around the wolf and burying his face in the ginger fur, and it’s only because of that he sees the minute nod of Andy’s head, Gabe putting a paw forwards.

Tony’s eyes widen, pulling away from Jaime a second too late as Gabe charges forwards. He meets the tanned wolf head on, but he’s flung to the side, rolling to a stop in the grass to helplessly watch Gabe’s extended claws rake down Austin’s back, the silver tips slicing cleanly through the charms tattooed there.

There’s a moment, a single moment, and Tony swears he can see the sun brighten as it claims its victim; Austin’s skin blistering before he’s completely engulfed in flames.

No one who leaves the field alive that day will ever forget the raw, empty sound of Alan’s howl as his mate burns to ash in front of his eyes, or the bloody sight of what happens next. Andy smiles at Tony, jaw unhooking as his fangs extend. “You may not have come for a fight, Perry. But _we_ did.”

 


	2. The Kids of Yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet our romantic leads, and there's a brief introduction to some other major players in the story.

**50 Human Years Ago**

Jaime’s happy bark rings around the forest as he chases after his tail. A firefly wafts past and he snaps at it playfully. There’s a yip from behind him and Alan leaps on him from behind a tree and the two wolf pups roll around in the grass, snarling and batting at each other with too-big paws, Jaime’s black fur vanishing in the dark while Alan’s ginger glows softly in the moonlight. They come to a stop sprawled all over each other, and Jaime licks Alan’s muzzle affectionately.

A twig snaps, and Tino comes bowling out of the undergrowth with Jesse and Gabe hot on his tail. The three of them pile on top of Alan and Jaime, creating one big heap of wriggling, yapping puppy, all of them nipping at ears and thumping each other with their tails until someone’s growl comes from their stomach instead of their mouth and it’s unanimously decided that it’s now hunting time.

They follow Jesse’s lead because he has the best sense of smell, and they manage to track down a rabbit warren. Flopping down onto his flank, Gabe darts a paw inside, and there’s a terrified squeak as rabbits dart everywhere. The wolves all pick one and give chase, and Jaime’s is a speedy little bastard and he doesn’t notice until he’s caught the little thing that he no longer recognises the part of the forest he’s in. But Jaime is Jaime, so he eats his rabbit before he starts worrying, and once he’s licked his paws off, he rolls onto his back and considers. He’s got no clue where he is, and he definitely doesn’t know the right way back. He’s terrible at following scent trails, and he doesn’t want to attract unwanted attention by howling for help.

After a minute or two, Jaime decides to just wing it, and he picks himself off and trots away in a random direction, hoping to either reach the pack house, run into a member of the pack who knows the way around, or the edge of the forest, where he can turn back and walk home following the road signs. He walks cheerfully for a few minutes before he swears he sees one of the shadows move. Shrugging it off, he keeps walking, and stops when something definitely darts past him. He’s being followed.

Jaime whines softly and pads forwards, and, yep, whatever is lurking in the shadows copies him. That’s all it takes for Jaime to break into an all-out-run, and it would have worked if he didn’t keep looking over his shoulder, and that’s how he ends up getting his paws all twisted together, and he goes snout over tail into a small stream. The cold shock of the water seeping into his fur jolts him back into his human form, and when he tries to stand up his foot slips on a wet rock and something cracks, sending him back into the water with a yelp.

He can hear footsteps now, and he’s lost and cold and sore, and suddenly he’s crying, curling up tightly as the water laps against his hips.

A hand suddenly prods his shoulder and Jaime shrieks, jumping and trying to scramble away. All that achieves is a cut palm and jarring his ankle. Shaking, he looks up at whoever it is. And nearly faints, because it’s a vampire and he’s always known that he was going to die young, but he never expected it to be at the hands of a vampire, and it takes him a second to realise that he’s hyperventilating, but by then it’s too late to do anything about it.

“Hey, hey, hey,” the vampire drops down to his knees in front of Jaime, murmuring at him soothingly. “Come on, calm down, kid. I’m not gonna hurt you.” The moonlight glints off the diamond stud in his cheek and Jaime gets really distracted by it, blinking slowly until he can breathe again. “There we go,” the vampire murmurs. “Just breathe. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just wondering what you were doing this far out of wolf territory.”

Jaime blinks again and smacks himself, scooting backwards slightly. The water is really cold and he can’t feel his legs and he thinks that’s bad. “You’re a vampire,” he stutters, teeth chattering. “You kill werewolves.”

“No I don’t,” the vampire says. “I don’t even know you. Even if I did, you’re too cute for me to do something horrible to you.” His eyes widen, and he puts a hand over his mouth.

Jaime can’t help it; he giggles. And then he yelps when his ankle twinges. He pulls his hands out of the water and prods at it gingerly. The vampire freezes suddenly, and Jaime realises that his palm is _bleeding_ and vampires _eat blood_ and even the nicest vampire probably can’t resist fresh blood. Before he can run, the vampire has his arm in a steel grip and is bringing Jaime’s hand to his mouth. Jaime whimpers, screwing his eyes up and waiting for the bite. It never comes.

Something wet laps at his palm, and Jaime cracks an eye open to see the vampire licking his palm. He feels a little squeamish, because his blood is still being eaten, but at least he’s not being sucked dry or something as equally dramatic. Then he frowns when he notices that the vampire isn’t eating his blood, so much as he’s _healing_ the wound. Jaime is confused. “I’m confused,” he tells the vampire. “Aren’t you supposed to be eating me?”

The vampire blushes slightly and lets Jaime go. “I don’t think I could do that.”

Jaime tilts his head in confusion, one of the more dog-like things he does without realising. “What do you mean?”

“Never mind.” The vampire shakes his head, and Jaime gets distracted by the diamond stud again. “I’m Tony. What’s your name? And why are you out here?”

Jaime’s teeth chatter and he wraps his arms around himself. “I’m Jaime. I’m lost.”

The vampire – Tony – cracks a small smile. “Aren’t wolves supposed to be great trackers?” he asks, mocking Jaime’s earlier question.

Jaime pouts. “Rude. I’m lost and injured and you’re making fun of me. That’s no way to make friends.”

Tony blinks, and then his smile gets a little wider. Jaime maybe melts a little inside, because his human eyes are finally adjusting to the darkness and this vampire is really attractive. “Come on, Jaime. I’ll help you find your way back.” And he takes Jaime’s hands and gently helps him to his feet, where they discover that his ankle is too tender for him to walk on without crying again. “Alright then,” Tony says decisively, and he scoops Jaime into his arms.

Jaime squeals, and throws his arms around Tony’s neck to steady himself. “Okay, that was unexpected.” Tony is a lot warmer than he thinks a vampire is supposed to be, but that could be because Jaime is currently turning into a Jaimcicle, so he just snuggles in close and lets Tony carry him out of the stream.

“How old are you?” Tony asks after a beat, shifting Jaime slightly so he can see where he’s going.

Jaime hums. “Human years or wolf years?”

Tony shrugs, and that feels weird while being carried. “Both, I guess.”

“I’m seventy five in human years, and fifteen in wolf years. What about you?”

“Well, I’m a hundred and six in human year, so that makes me, what? Twenty in wolf years?” He looks down at Jaime for clarification, and Jaime does the math in his head before nodding. “Cool.” Tony smiles again, and Jaime tucks his head into the crook of the vampire’s neck.

He’s got this strange swooping feeling in his tummy, like someone’s put a hook behind his belly button and is pulling with all their might. The longer he’s in Tony’s arms, the hotter he feels, but it’s not a physical heat. It’s more like heat flooding his veins, and he takes a sharp breath through his nose, but that just fills his head with Tony’s scent, earthy and sort of flowery-sweet, and that just makes the heat more intense.

While Jaime’s pondering these feelings, Tony suddenly enters a patch of forest Jaime recognises, but before he can say anything, a big furry blur comes out of the shadows and knocks them both to the ground. Jesse noses Jaime away from Tony, and puts his front paws on the vampire’s chest, bearing down on him with teeth exposed and a cold expression in his eyes.

“Jesse!” Jaime pleads, tangling his fingers in the thick fur of Jesse’s hind flank. “Leave him alone, he helped me!” He feels all wonky at the sight of Tony in danger, and he feels like he needs to be putting himself between Tony and Jesse, anything to protect Tony. He’s really confused. “Jesse, please.”

At the whine in Jaime’s voice, Jesse pulls back, ears flat and hackles up, as if to say, ‘Are you fucking crazy?’

Tony puts his hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to trespass on pack territory. But Jaime is hurt and he can’t walk, so I carried him back. I’ll leave now.” He gets to his feet and, with one last glance at Jaime, sprints off into the forest, disappearing so quickly it was like he was never there.

Jaime whimpers, and makes to follow him, not sure why, just that something is screaming at him to go after Tony, but his injured leg buckles under him and Jesse catches him, letting Jaime sling an arm over his neck and lean on him. “I don’t…I don’t understand,” Jaime mutters, pressing a hand to his chest, where his heart is. “Why does it hurt now he’s gone?”

Jesse’s eyes widen, and he’s so shocked he pops back into human form, sending them both crashing to the ground with lots of cursing. “Oh my god.” Jesse looks slightly disgusted. “You Bonded with a _vampire!_ ”

Jaime balks. “I did _what?!”_

-

The sun is nearly up by the time Tony makes it back to the house, he can feel his skin starting to itch, and Andy meets him at the door, twisting his hands frantically and biting his lip. “I thought you weren’t going to make it back!” he breathes, throwing himself at Tony and squeezing him tightly. “You bastard, don’t do that a-” he cuts himself off with a frown and takes a good, long sniff of Tony’s shirt. “Tony,” he says slowly. “Why do you smell like a wet dog?”

Tony shrugs, not really wanting to talk about it. His brain is stuck on the image of the wolf, still only a cub, tanned skin lit up by the light of the moon. “A wolf cub got lost in our territory and I helped him find his way back.”

Andy frowns, his sculpted eyebrows pulling together over his brilliant eyes. “What?” Tony remembers when he used to be in love with those eyes. When he thought he could never get enough of them. He thinks it’s strange that that was only yesterday. “Tony!” Andy waves his hand in front of Tony’s face and Tony blinks, realising that he’d completely zoned out, thinking about Jaime and what had happened between them before Tony could stop it.

“Sorry, Andy,” he says. “I guess I haven’t fed properly. I’m all over the place.”

Andy’s face turns sympathetic, and he takes Tony’s hand, dragging him towards the kitchen. “I think there might still be some of that O negative you like left, provided Alex hasn’t gotten his greedy little hands all over it.”

Absently, Tony nods. He can still taste the tiniest bit of Jaime’s blood in his mouth from when he’d healed the wolf’s hand, and he knows. He knows it happened. They’d Bonded.

“Ugh, get a room,” Andy groans when they get to the kitchen and Kellin has Vic spread out on the breakfast bar, pale hands running all over the older vampire.

Vic smiles at them lazily, his lips coated in blood. They’d clearly just fed, and were high on the endorphins. “Hey guys,” he slurs, tangling his fingers in Kellin’s hair and pulling him up for a kiss. When he pulls back, his head rolls to the side and he smiles at Tony. “Congratulations, man. It’s about time.”

Tony curses, remembers that Vic’s creepy magic means he can sense Bonds. Andy looks at him questioningly, and Tony ignores him, going over to the fridge and rooting through all the blood bags. “Ah-ha.” Right at the back is the last bag of O negative, and it’s only half gone, so Tony can’t be too mad at Alex.

“Tony,” there’s a slight edge to Andy’s voice, and Tony knows he can’t avoid this forever. “Tony, what is Vic talking about?”

“Nothing, forget about it,” Tony mutters, ripping the bag open with his teeth and skulling it in two gulps. It’s sweet and not too thick, just how he likes it, but it still can’t completely wash the taste of Jaime off his tongue. He’s in it deep, crap.

There’s a wet noise as Vic pushes Kellin off him slightly. “Dude, there’s no need to be ashamed about Bonding; it’s a beautiful thing.” And then he’s making out with Kellin again.

Andy staggers against the sideboard slightly, closing the cabinet he’d just opened. “I’m sorry, _what_?” he sounds hurt, and Tony instantly feels guilty.

He takes Andy’s hand and plays with his fingers. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. You know how it is…it just _happens_.”

Andy nods stiffly, turning his back on Tony completely to reopen the cabinet to get a glass out because he’s too classy to drink blood straight from the bag if he can avoid it. “I get it, Tone. I do. We knew this was temporary. I just thought it would be longer…” his voice trails off, and he looks over his shoulder. Tony takes his chin in his fingers and kisses him, just to see how it feels. It feels wrong, and he pulls back, shaking his head. Andy nods, eyes a little teary. “Okay. Okay.” He sighs, then fakes a smile. “So, who is it then? Austin? Mike?”

Tony’s not really sure how to say it, but he knows he needs to get it out. “Um, no. No, it’s um…it’s the werewolf I helped.”

The glass Andy’s holding shatters and his hand closes into a fist and Kellin jerks off Vic so fast he knocks himself over.

“WHAT?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is gonna be it for a while; I plan on writing pretty much the rest of the story before posting it so it doesn't end up like everything else I write and never finish. The reaction to these chapters is gonna determine when I start posting the rest of the story.


	3. A Love Like War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New pack members, new Bonds, and some new tensions arise.

**15 Human Years Later**

On Jaime’s sixteenth wolf birthday, a rogue pack of wolves literally stumble into their territory, badly beaten and running from something. They’re young, with soot on their fur, and they scare the shit out of Alan, who’s on watch that night. The largest of the three, blood matted in his grey fur, crouches protectively in front of the other two, growling at Alan, who may or may not be hiding behind a tree, completely conspicuous with his fiery pelt, even in the dark.

Once the new wolves see that Alan is not a threat, the small, black-brown wolf darts out from behind the grey one and barks at Alan playfully, trying to coax him out. The third wolf snorts, rolling his eyes and sitting down, panting heavily as the grey wolf pads over and starts nosing at him, looking for injuries. Alan turns back into his human form, followed by the playful wolf, and the two of them sit on the roots of a nearby tree.

“I’m Alan,” he says, shaking hands with the boy.

“Jack,” he replies, nodding. “And that’s Zack and Rian-” he points at the rest of his pack. “Sorry to kind of barge into your territory, but we pissed off some humans and they’re after us with torches.”

Alan winces, subconsciously running his fingers over his side where he’d once been skewered by a pitchfork. “Understandable. Where are you from?”

Jack shrugs, still smiling. “Here and there. We’re kind of nomadic.”

Alan decides to bring them back to the pack house, the four wolves darting through the undergrowth. As soon as they’re inside, Alan gets jumped on by Jaime, who exclaims, “Did you catch me a big delicious rabbit because it’s my birthday and you love me?” He licks Alan’s cheek for good measure.

“No,” Alan grumbles, shoving the younger wolf off. “I found you new pack members.” He tilts his head to the three. “I’m gonna take them to Alpha Purdy. Can you take over my watch for me? I was gonna ask Gabe, but I don’t know where he’s gone off to.”

Jaime nods excitedly. “Yes! I can try out the claw-tips Jesse gave me!” He digs in his pocket and pulls out a set of silver claw-tips, still nice and shiny and not covered in fingerprints. “He says they’re really good to defend against vampires.”

Wrinkling his nose, Alan shakes his head. “Because you _totally_ need protection against vampires,” he drawls sarcastically, wagging his eyebrows at Jaime, who blushes.

“Shush!” the younger scolds, glaring at him. “You know how Alpha feels about that…”

Alan scoffs. “Just because _his_ vampire mate wants nothing to do with him and seems to have a personal vendetta against werewolves doesn’t mean _you_ should be prevented from seeing _your_ vampire mate.”

The three new wolves, who had been eavesdropping, all make startled noises, and Zack and Rian both look a Jack with wide eyes, and Jack crosses his arms, smugly declaring, “I _told_ you I wasn’t crazy!”

“Wait, what?” Jaime asks, tilting his head curiously.

Rian points at Jack like he’s personally offended him. “This moron bowled over a leech a few months ago and has been _convinced_ ever since that he met his mate. We told him he was crazy because wolves and vampires _don’t_ Bond, but if it’s happening to you guys, then I guess he was right.”

Alan opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, someone clears their throat, and everyone jumps as Alpha Purdy basically materialises out of a shadow. “Thank you boys,” he says softly, dark eyes trailing over each of them intently. “Jaime, go and take Alan’s watch. Alan, introduce me to your friends.”

Jaime salutes and makes to leave, but Alpha Purdy stops him with his name.

“And, Jaime? Stay away from the river please.”

Jaime’s eyes widen. The river is on the vampire side of the territory. Alpha Purdy’s message is loud and clear: stay away from the vampires. He nods shakily. “Y-yes, Alpha.” And then he’s allowed to go. Once he’s in the Turning Clearing, he shucks his clothes and tucks them into a hollow log, pulling his claw-tips onto his fingers and toes before shifting. He shakes his fur out and heads off, nose following the scent of water. He feels a little bad for disobeying his Alpha, but it wasn’t a direct command, just a request, so he’s still able to break it.

Besides, his heart is calling to him. He _needs_ to see Tony again. It’s been nearly a whole human year since they last saw each other.

He breaks through the trees on the river bank and slips on that same goddamned stone he always forgets about, landing in the water with a splash and a loud yip. Quiet laughter comes from behind him, and he glares affectionately over his shoulder as Tony drops to the ground from his favourite tree-perch. In revenge for the laughter, Jaime trots over and shakes all over Tony, the vampire sputtering and wiping water drops off his face.

“Hello, mutt,” he greets, holding Jaime’s face in both hands and kissing his snout. “Long time, no see. Did you miss me?”

Jaime rears back and puts his front paws on Tony’s shoulders as he shifts again, wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck and bringing him in close, inhaling his scent. “What do you think, moron?”

Tony chuckles and curls his hands around Jaime’s hips, pressing a gentle kiss to his neck. “I missed you, too.” He pulls back slightly and leans in for a kiss, which Jaime happily returns. When they break it, Tony whispers, “A little birdy told me it’s your birthday today. Would that be true?”

Smiling brightly, Jaime nods. “Look what I got!” He holds a hand out, and Tony nearly falls in the river himself as he reels back from the claw-tips. Jaime’s face drops. “What? What did I do?”

Tony shakes his head. “Nothing, nothing. Just…silver’s not particularly good for vampires is all.”

Jaime’s eyes widen. “Ah shit, I knew that!” He unbuckles them and lays them neatly on a rock so he won’t forget them. “Sorry, Tone.”

Tony drags the wolf back in and kisses him again. “It’s okay. They are very pretty. They suit you; they look like diamonds against your black fur.”

Blushing, Jaime buries his face in Tony’s shoulder. “Shut up,” he mumbles. “God, you make me all tingly inside.”

They’re quiet for a while, kissing softly in the light of the half moon, until Jaime brushes his fingers over the diamond stud in Tony’s cheek and pauses mid-kiss with a questioning noise. “What’s wrong?” Tony breathes against the wolf’s lips.

“Have…” Jaime bites his lip. “Have you ever heard of any other wolves and vampires Bonding?” he asks after a beat. “I mean, my Alpha supposedly has, but he doesn’t talk about it at all because the vampire hates werewolves. And this new wolf says he has, but his friends say he’s crazy.”

Tony shakes his head. “Only rumours, but my friend, Vic, has been looking into it for a while. He says there have only been a few over the centuries, and they’ve only ever happened in times of great need; when wolves and vampires need to band together.”

Jaime blinks. “Well, that’s a little morbid,” he grouses. “So something bad is going to happen? That’s the only reason we. We found each other?” He’s a bit upset actually, he quite likes Tony, and he’d be annoyed if the only reason Fate put them together was to face some great peril.

“Nothing bad has happened yet,” Tony reminds him. “I don’t think anything will. I think we were just meant to be.” He kisses Jaime, letting the bare tips of his fangs drag over his bottom lip. It’s been nearly eight years since he last tasted the wolf’s blood, and that was an accident, but he can still taste the ghost of it on the back of his tongue. It’s quite intoxicating. “I think we’re special.”

An odd noise, rather like a scoff, echoes from the trees, and both their heads whip towards it. There’s the sound of scampering feet, and they look at each other warily. Very few members of Jaime’s pack and Tony’s coven are accepting of their Bond, many believing it to be some kind of witchcraft from the other. “Mine or yours?” Jaime murmurs, stepping a little closer to Tony.

“Mine, I think,” Tony answers. “I think it was Andy.” He curses. “Shit, he really hates you.”

Jaime’s lip sticks out as he pouts. “Is he the one I accidentally stole you away from?”

Tony nods, kissing Jaime’s nose. “He knows we couldn’t help it, but it really hurt him…Vic told me Andy’s found his own Bond, but he still hasn’t let it go.”

-

Ashley fell asleep to the sounds of his three new pack members getting to know the rest, and he wakes up to cold hands around his throat. “Let me go, Andy,” he growls without even opening his eyes. It hurts too much to look at the vampire, at his mate, and have that Bond rejected over and over again.

The thin fingers slip from his neck, trailing down to rest on his chest. “I thought I told you to keep your puppy away from my territory?” the cold voice hisses, and Ashley’s heart sinks. Damn Jaime.

“I tried,” he whispers. “But there’s not much I can do. Not even an Alpha’s Command can get in the way of a Bond. You should know. Your Compulsion doesn’t work on Tony anymore does it?” he opens his eyes then, if only to have a brief moment to rejoice at the pain he’s caused.

Andy slips off him and perches on the end of the bed like a preying mantis. Ashley laughs quietly; that’s probably a very apt description of the vampire, all long-limbs and harsh angles and predatory mouth. He looks like there should be spines slicing out of his skin, ready to stab and entrap anyone who wanders too close to him. Ashley’s been caught in those metaphorical spines for nearly ten years, and he hates every second of it.

“Don’t talk about him,” Andy snaps, and Ashley blinks himself back into the present. “Just keep your pup away from him. He’s _mine_.” And he unfolds himself, getting ready to leave. “Enough of my vampires have been… _brainwashed_ by wolves.”

Ashley can’t help it. He can’t take another decade of this. “ _I’m_ yours,” he whispers, rolling onto his side and curling up with his back to the vampire. “Whether you like it or not.” The words have barely left his mouth and he’s on the floor, Andy hovering over him with fangs extended.

The vampire’s fangs are an endless source of interest for Ashley. The way his jaw unhinges, the skin around his mouth stretching until it’s nearly translucent, the needle-like teeth that descend over his human teeth, sharp as knives and longer that Ashley’s fingers. “Are you going to kill me?” he asks, reaching up and running the pad of his index finger over a fang.

“I want to,” Andy growls, voice garbled around his teeth. “I want to so badly.” The fangs retract and he sits up. “But I can’t. And I hate myself for it.”

“Go away,” Ashley mumbles. “I don’t like you.”

Andy sighs, and leans forwards and kisses Ashley so quickly they hardly feel it, just the warm tingle left over from where their skin touched. And then the vampire is gone, the shutters of Ashley’s window banging against the wall like a blizzard just passed through. Ashley crawls back into bed and stares blankly at the wall until the sun comes up.

-

There’s something off about the coven house when Tony gets back, and he’s not sure what it is until he does a head count. “Damn it, Kellin!” he yells, banging his fist on the wall. “Can’t you keep your goddamned Bite to yourself?!”

Two boys are sitting at the kitchen table, looking properly intimidated by Tony, and Kellin is hovering over the both of them like some kind of demented mother hen. “Shut up,” he chirps, passing glasses of blood to the two newborns with a cheery smile. “I swear it was an accident.”

“Bullshit,” Tony snorts, and he looks around for Vic, who is usually only a few feet away from his mate at any one time. “What happened, Vic?”

Vic rolls his eyes, smiling dopily. “We were hunting, he saw them, said, and I quote, ‘Aw, they’re so precious, I want to keep them!’ and then he Turned them before I could do anything.”

“Jesus Christ,” Tony mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Where are we going to put them? After Andy’s nutjob and your brother, we’re nearly out of room!”

There’s a growl from the doorway, and Andy stalks in, said nutjob – better known as Jinxx – trailing after him. “Leave him alone,” Andy says, shouldering past Tony to stand on the opposite end of the table to the newborns. “Now, who do we have here?”

One, who bears a striking resemblance to a rat, stands up abruptly. “I’m Justin, I’m uncomfortable, and I don’t want to be here, or to be a vampire, and I’d like to go stand in a sunbeam now, please.”

Andy laughs and claps his hands. “Bravo! I like this one. Kellin, he can stay with you and Vic.” Justin snarls under his breath and pushes Kellin’s comforting hand away before storming off. Andy smirks. “Someone follow him.” Kellin huffs and skips off. Andy turns back to the table, dragging his eyes over to the other newborn, sitting quietly and drinking his blood. “What about you, youngling?”

The dark haired vampire looks up, levelly says, “My name is Jack Fowler. Justin and I were walking home from work when we got mugged. I got shot. Kellin killed the guys, and he saved my life. Justin is just angry that he had to leave everything behind when Kellin brought us here,” and then he goes back to his blood, ignoring all of them.

“Hey, guys...?” a voice slurs from the door, and Mike shuffles in, looking thin and underfed. “Why is there an angry, ranting vampire chasing Kellin with a shattered pencil?”

“That’s Justin, he’s annoyed at Kellin for non-consensual Turning,” Vic explains, breezing to his brother’s side. “Mikey, you need to feed. Your system can’t handle the amount of days you don’t eat.”

Tony’s not really sure on the details behind those two, but he thinks that Mike is about seventy to eighty years younger than Vic and is actually his great-grand-nephew or great-grandson or something. He’d contracted some kind of deadly human disease, and Vic had Turned him fourteen years ago to save his last living relative from dying. They just find it easier to call him Vic’s brother; it’s less confusing.

Mike shrugs, lets Vic drag him to the fridge and force a blood bag into his hands. He folds himself into the chair beside Jinxx, tucking his feet under his legs and sort of curling in on himself to sink his fangs into the bag. Jinxx makes a little trilling noise at him, like a cat, and he blinks before holding the leaking bag out to the older vampire. Together, they finish it off.

Andy smiles at them, and then his face turns hard and he looks at Tony. “I take it you heard me by the river, then?”

“You need to let it go, Andy,” Tony murmurs, leaning against the kitchen wall. “I have Jaime, and you have whoever your Bond is. There’s never going to be anything between us again.”

Lips peeling back slightly, Andy huffs. “I don’t have a _Bond_ ,” he protests. “No matter what that mutt thinks…” Tony’s pretty sure that he wasn’t supposed to hear that last bit, so he pretends he didn’t, filing it away to tell Jaime later.

Silence falls over the kitchen, and they can faintly hear Justin still ranting at Kellin. Tony checks the clock on the wall and sees that the sun’s been up for almost an hour. He can feel the pull of it in his bones, urging him to sleep. “Did anyone see Austin and Alex get back?” he asks sleepily, stretching. He’s just noticed that Alex isn’t hanging around moping over the Bond Vic says he has that he doesn’t remember making.

Everyone looks up, identical horrified expressions on all their faces. Vic gasps. “No, they’re not back yet!”

-

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, we are so dead. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my-”

“Alex, shut the fuck up!” Austin barks, trying to pull himself further into the cave as the sun creeps slowly inside. “Vic’s been working on this thing…like, a protection charm…I’m trying to remember how it goes.”

Alex whimpers, wedging in behind Austin as much as possible. They’d been hunting, and Alex had seen a small pack of vaguely familiar wolves and had chased after them for a reason he had yet to share with Austin, and Austin had been forced to follow him when they crossed onto wolf territory to keep an eye on him, and they’d been stuck halfway back to the coven house when the sun started rising.

“Just for the record,” Austin grunts, digging his heel into the dirt floor of the cave. “I blame you for this, and if we die, I’m going to drag you to hell kicking and screaming and do the Devil’s work myself.” He grabs Alex by the scruff of the neck and points his face towards the small pile of dirt he’d kicked up. “Now spit, I need to be able to draw with this.”

Alex grouses, “This is disgusting,” but spits into the dirt when Austin glares at him, scrambling away as Austin also hocks a loogie onto the ground. Alex wrinkles his nose as Austin mixes it all up with the tip of his finger. “What are you gonna do with that?”

“This,” and Austin carefully draws a pattern on his arm with the dirt. He frowns in concentration, trying to remember all the intricacies of the symbol Vic had shown him. “Okay. This is wonky, but it’ll hopefully work.” Then he thrusts his arm out into the sunlight. Alex screams, covering his eyes, and Austin winces. His skin starts flushing, but that’s it. He pulls it back inside the cave. “Okay, it hurts, but it’s bearable. I don’t know how long it’s gonna last though, so we have to move quickly. Do you know which way the coven house is?”

Nodding, Alex points, and Austin takes that opportunity to draw the symbol on Alex as well. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

Austin shrugs. “Vic is still working out the kinks, but if you wanna stay here and wait for the sun to filter in and die a quick and fiery death, be my guest. It’s our only chance.” He clucks his tongue, grabs Alex’s elbow, and pulls. “Now let’s go!”

It hurts. It really hurts. Alex stumbles over his feet, almost running blind, Austin’s hand the only thing keeping him from just collapsing and screaming. Somehow, they get turned around in the forest, or maybe Alex’s directions had been off, but they’re in unfamiliar woods, and when he cracks his eyes open, Alex sees red welts forming on his skin, curls of smoke rising off him as the seal hardens and starts to flake off.

Suddenly, they’re running into a large clearing, and there’s a house in the middle, and Austin throws himself at the door, both of them begging to be let in. It’s the wolves’ pack house – even through the white-hot pain they can smell the wet-dog scent that follows the wolves wherever they go – and Alex just accepts death. Be it the sun or the Alpha of the pack, he knows he’s going to die that day.

The door opens underneath them, and the two vampires tumble into the invisible barrier that prevents their entry without an invitation. “Please,” Austin begs, looking down at the ginger boy standing in the door. “Please let us in. We’re dying. Please.”

Cocking his head, the wolf looks them both over, eyes stilling on Austin and widening suddenly. He nearly jumps aside. “Come in!” he yelps, and they fall through the door in a slightly smoking heap, letting out groans of relief as the house shields them from the sun.

“We need to get somewhere with no sun,” Austin pants, pulling himself up onto his hands and knees. “A basement, somewhere with locking windows…anything!”

The wolf jerkily nods his head. “We have a resting room for after the full moon. There are no windows. Follow-” he cuts himself off, facepalming. “Stupid! Let me help you.” He crouches down and tucks his hands under Austin’s arms, helping the vampire up. He’s nearly bowled over by Austin’s impressive height, but he steadies himself and begins to help the vampire limp down the hall while Alex flops onto his back, closes his eyes and breathes, hissing as his heated skin makes contact with the wooden floor. A shadow falls over him, and he cracks a stinging eye open to see a dark haired wolf staring at him with big eyes.

“Hello?” he rasps, squinting at the wolf with both eyes. He’s uncomfortably warm right now and would really like to be taken somewhere dark and cold and preferably away from any loud noise.

The wolf blinks. “It’s you.” He sounds slightly awed, and the blush that spreads across Alex’s cheeks is not helping his sunstroke. “It’s really you. I’m not crazy.”

Alex doesn’t get to reply before the ginger wolf is back, gentle hands helping Alex up. His legs wobble underneath him, his skin feeling leathery and overstretched. The second wolf hesitates for a second before wrapping an arm around Alex’s waist and walking him down the corridor. With so much wolf touching him, Alex just feels gross and hot, and it’s a relief when they take him into a very dark room and lie him down on something soft.

“Is there anything you need?” the ginger wolf asks softly, herding the other wolf out and setting his hand on the door.

Austin groans from the shadows. “Blood.”

The wolf’s face turns grim, but he nods resolutely. “I’ll see what I can do,” he says as he shuts the door.

Alex has already passed out before the lock clicks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I caved. I decided that I'm not posting a new chapter until I've finished the one after it.  
> EDIT 26/04: Just adding an extra scene to the end of this because the next chapter ended up ridiculously long.


	4. Irresistable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Bonds, some cuddling, some friendships, and a little bit of back story for someone...

“Alan. Alan. _Alan!_ ” Jaime waves his hand in Alan’s face, snapping his fingers as his friend continues to stare at the open door like it holds all the answers. “Are you gonna stand there all day or are you actually going to, like, _go outside?_ ” He tilts his head. “What are you planning on doing anyway?”

Alan looks at Jaime over his shoulder. “There are two vampires in the resting room. I’m going to get them blood.”

Eyes widening, Jaime snorts. “I’m sorry, what? I thought you just said there are two vampires in the resting room and that you’re going to get them blood, but I must have hallucinated.” He chuckles a bit, and then catches sight of Alan’s set expression and his face falls. “Alpha Purdy is absolutely gonna kill you.”

“What else can I do, Jaime?” Alan asks, shrugging. “What would you do if Tony was stranded here and needed blood?”

Jaime shakes his head. “That’s different, Tony and I are Bonded, and you…” His mouth drops open as Alan bites his lips, cheeks flushing red. “No. No way.” Jaime giggles slightly, not sure what to do. “Oh my god!”

Alan shrugs helplessly, crossing his arms over chest protectively and pouting. “It’s like you said. It just… _happened_. I opened the door and saw him and everything just went-”

“Swoopy,” Jaime finishes, the ghost of a brilliant smile floating across his face before he gets serious again. “Alright, I get it. But…where are you gonna get blood from?” He scratches the back of his neck. “It’s not like you can just walk into a store and get some. And getting it from the source is out of the question.”

Alan presses his lips together, deliberating. “I thought I’d just…follow their scent back to their coven house and ask for a bag or something.”

Jaime shakes his head. “That is a terrible idea, and we’ll probably die doing it.” He shrugs. “Let’s go.”

It’s already fairly warm outside, even though it’s quite early. The two of them shift, sprinting into the forest side by side. Jaime takes the lead, following the familiar path to the river, and then picking up Tony’s scent trail to the giant mansion the vampire coven calls home. They draw slowly to a stop by the porch steps and pad their way up, turning back to human form under the awning, perfectly at ease without their clothes. There’s an awkward moment where they mentally debate over who’s going to knock, and in the end, Alan shoves Jaime forwards, claiming, “You have a mate in there – you’re less likely to be eaten!”

Grumbling, Jaime grabs the knocker and bangs it twice, and then again after a minute of silence. When there’s still no response after five minutes, Alan’s shoulders slump and he turns away, knees already bending in preparation to shift. Before he can though, they hear something moving inside, and they look at each other nervously.

The door cracks open slightly, one bright blue eye peering at them from behind a thick mesh screen hanging over the doorway. “Well, well, well,” a deep voice croons. “Two little wolves standing on my doorstep. What is it that you want?”

Jaime can’t speak; he’s frozen in that intense gaze. Alan clears his throat, and says, “Blood!” harsher than he means to. He coughs. “I mean, we need blood. I found two vampires pounding our door down to escape the sun, and now they’re resting in our pack house. My ma – one of them says they need blood.” He catches himself before he says, ‘My mate,’ not sure how well that would go down.

A low chuckle resonates from inside the door. “Really now? And how do I know you won’t kill me and my coven when I let you inside?”

Alan bristles, and if he’d been in wolf form, his hackles would be rising. “We are not like you,” he hisses, eyes narrow. “All I know is that two vampires blistered and smoking and trapped in the sun are recuperating in our home and requesting aid, and I’m here to get it for them!”

There’s a hiss, and then the vampire behind the door is yanked away to be replaced by a much shorter man with kind eyes and hair curling softly around his shoulders. “Please,” he whispers. “The two vampires…is one tall and gangly, and the other small and mousy?”

Alan nods, taking a step forwards. “Are they members of your coven?”

“Yes. That’s Austin and Alex.” He heaves a sigh of relief. “Oh my god. We thought they were dead.” He backs away from the door. “Please, come in. I’ll get you some blood for them.” From behind him, there’s an angry noise like a boiling kettle, and he scoffs, shushing the other vampire. “Come in.”

Alan latches on to Jaime’s elbow and the two wolves creep inside, lifting the mesh screen and following the short vampire into the kitchen. All the windows in the house are covered up, not a scrap of stray sunlight filtering in, and the only source of light is the naked bulb hanging from the hall ceiling. There’s a ruffle of dark fabric, and Jaime eyes a lanky shadow as it vanishes up the stairs; he assumes that it’s the vampire who answered the door.

“Here,” the other vampire says softly, pulling open the door of the fridge to reveal a donation bank’s worth of blood bags, neatly stacked by type and age, some labelled with sticky-notes proclaiming names and rude warning notes like ‘Keep your fucking hands off my AB, yes, Kellin, I’m talking to you you greedy bastard.’ “These are the freshest ones we have,” he murmurs, taking a few baggies out and setting them on the bench. “I’ll put them in a bag or something so you can carry them back…”

As the vampire is explaining things to Alan, Jaime gets distracted looking around the kitchen. He can smell Tony everywhere; the chair in the corner by the bookcase, a patch of rug by the door, one of the cupboards in the drink cabinet. His chest starts to feel tight, and he whines a little, not used to being so close to the scent without Tony being attached to it. The vampire notices and gives him a sympathetic smile.

“You must be Jaime,” he says. “I’m Vic, Tony’s friend. Go upstairs; third door on the left. He might be asleep though, so just poke him with a shoe or something.” He finds a plastic bag and slips the blood inside, handing it to Alan as Jaime nearly sprints up the stairs. “Just pull the tab and pour it in their mouths. If their fangs come out, mind your fingers. My mate and I will come and fetch them when the sun goes down, if your pack is okay with it.”

Alan nods, “Thank you, Vic.” He smiles, curling his fingers into the crinkly plastic. He turns to follow Jaime upstairs, somewhat curious to see the vampire his friend had Bonded with, but he’s stopped by a cool hand wrapping round his elbow, pulling him back slightly. “What the-?”

Vic’s head is tilted to the side, his eyes focusing on something just above Alan’s left hand. The vampire brings Alan’s hand up to his face, uses his free hand to pluck at something in the air by Alan’s little finger. “Interesting,” he hums, completely engrossed. “I’ve never seen a Bond from a werewolf’s end before.”

Sucking in a breath, Alan yanks his hand back, holding it against his chest like he’d been burnt. “You…you can see Bonds?” his eyes are big in wonderment. “What does it look like?”

Vic smiles, fingers twisting in something. “Like a red string,” he marvels. “It’s tied to your finger.”

“Whoa…” Alan looks down at his hand. “Where does the other end go?”

“That depends on who your Bonded is. If they’re a werewolf, I’d see the other end of the string. If they’re a vampire, I’d see a very fine silver chain circling their wrist, like mine and Kellin’s.”

Before long, the two are seated at the kitchen table, Alan with a blanket wrapped around his waist, and both with mugs of coffee, deep in discussion about Bonds.

“I don’t think I ever asked who your Bond was,” Vic says after telling Alan all about how he sees webs of delicate charms all over the house because half the coven is Bonded. “Are they a wolf?”

Alan shakes his head, suddenly looking a little nervous. He runs his finger around the rim of his mug, fidgeting in his seat. “Um. He’s a vampire.” He stops at Vic’s startled look. “And, um, I don’t know his name? Whichever of Austin and Alex is the tall lanky one..?”

Vic giggle-snorts, clapping his hands over his mouth. “Austin!” he exclaims. “That’s Austin! Oh my, he’s _perfect_ for you!” He laughs a little more and then gets serious again. “That makes at _least_ three pairs of vampires and werewolves who have Bonded over the last fifteen years. Maybe four.” He taps his chin and skulls the last of his coffee. “And considering our two species don’t Bond outside of times of great peril, my only conclusion can be that something bad is going to happen. Soon.”

“Wait, what?” Alan’s eyes bug slightly. “How do you go from _congratulating_ me to foretelling the fucking apocalypse or something?”

Vic shrugs a bony shoulder. “It’s a talent.” He smiles softly. “Besides, it’s been fifteen years since Tony Bonded with Jaime, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened that we’ve noticed.” Humming, he crinkles his nose. “Well, Andy rescued a stray newborn from some humans who were trying to stake him, but nothing other than that.”

“I suppose that’s good…” Alan murmurs, downing his coffee dregs and standing with a stretch. “Oh shit!” he gasps, catching sight of the clock on the wall. “We’ve been here for over two hours! I better go and fish Jaime out and head back to the pack house before Alpha Purdy comes for our heads…”

He takes a step out the kitchen door, and there’s suddenly banging and shrieking from upstairs.

-

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Austin’s voice croaks in the dark.

Alex groans and rolls over, trying to press as much of his still-heated skin to the cooler parts of the sheets that he hasn’t laid on yet as possible. He’s still in a lot of pain, and he’s not really sure how long he’d been lying in the wolves’ resting room, but he’s still cohesive enough to wonder at Austin’s query. “I guess… Why?” He can hear Austin shifting around, the older vampire hissing slightly as he moves too fast and pulls at his cracking skin.

Austin hums a little after he’s settled down again. “No reason.” And then he’s quiet again.

Sighing, Alex curls up slightly on his side, tucking his hands under his chin. He wants to sleep, but his body hurts too much for him to be able to drift off, and his stomach has started twisting with hunger. “How long do think that ginger wolf has been?” he muses, wrapping an arm around his waist like that’s going to stop the hunger.

The sigh Austin heaves is tinged with something that Alex thinks might be longing. “About an hour,” he breathes, and Alex raises his eyebrows in the dark. It feels like they’ve been there longer than an hour. “I think he’s gone to the coven house.”

Alex flips over and stares at Austin’s prone figure in the shadows. There are little light spots dancing around his vision due to the sun exposure, so his night vision isn’t really up to scratch, but he can still make out Austin staring wistfully at the door. Alex frowns, twisting his head on the pillow to get a better look at Austin’s face. His stomach clenches. “Oh tell me you didn’t,” he moans, throwing a hand over his face. “Andy’s going to kill the next person to come home Bonded to a werewolf.”

“Well that would make him a hypocrite, wouldn’t it?” Austin snaps testily, before clapping a hand over his mouth. “Shit. Forget I said that.”

Alex’s eybrows nearly disappear into his hairline. “Andy’s Bonded to a werewolf? Jesus, and he’s always riding Tony’s ass for it, what a bastard.”

Austin groans. “Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m not even supposed to know; I overheard him telling Jinxx about it ages ago.”

“Wow,” Alex murmurs, and then he pouts slightly. “How come he told the nutjob and not me? I’m like his best friend! Well, not including Tony, but whatever. They’ve never been the same since Tony’s Bond broke them up.”

“I don’t know,” Austin snaps. “Maybe because you can’t keep your fucking mouth shut?”

“Rude!” Alex gasps, but before either of them can say anything, they’re interrupted by loud yelling just outside the door.

“WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE VAMPIRES IN MY HOUSE?!”

Fearfully, they both sit up slightly, hissing at the pull of their skin. The door to the room flies open and Austin snarls at the sudden light, Alex whimpering and covering his face with his hands.

“Look at me,” an authoritative voice growls, and Alex peeks between his fingers to the stocky, dark-haired wolf standing in the doorway, glaring at them both intently. “What are you doing here? Who let you in? _Who are you?_ ”

Alex’s voice cracks and squeaks when he tries to speak, so Austin says, “My name is Austin, and that’s Alex. We were caught in the sun and ran here for safety. One of your wolves let us in. We’re not here to hurt anyone and we’ll leave as soon as it’s dark!”

The wolf, clearly the Alpha, growls again and Austin falls silent. He stalks into the room, closing the door. His glowing red eyes light up the room like flames. “Which of my pack let you in?”

Austin bares his teeth, fangs beginning to extend. “What will you do to him?”

“That’s none of your concern,” the Alpha snaps.

“What. Will. You. Do. To. Him?” Austin repeats, and Alex marvels at the strength of a Bond that formed in a single second, and tries not to think about his own Bond. The one he didn’t even realise he’d made until Vic had pointed it out to him.

The Alpha stares at Austin long and hard before deflating, his eyes ceasing to glow. “Well shit. There goes another one of my wolves to a vampire.” He sighs. “At least I know what you look like. Well then, who was it?”

Austin frowns for a second before saying, “Uh, small and ginger?”

The Alpha nods, claps his hands. “That’s Alan.” He looks around the room. “Uh, where is he?”

“He went to find us some blood,” Austin explains quietly.

There’s a brief pause as the Alpha processes this, and then his eyes flare red again as he shrieks, “HE WHAT?!”

“Alpha Purdy!” the door opens again with a crash, and the other wolf who had helped them inside pokes his head in. “I feel the need to inform you that one of those lovely vampires is my mystery vampire, so please don’t hurt them, okay?”

“You too, Jack?” Alpha Purdy groans and drops his head into his hands. “Are there _any_ wolves in this pack that _haven’t_ Bonded with vampires?

Alex can’t help himself; he just _has_ to laugh at the expression on Alpha Purdy’s face. It’s so desperate and hopeless, and maybe Alex is a sadist for finding it funny, but he just can’t stop laughing. Until he feels the eyes of the three other beings in the room on him. “What?” he asks, a little defensively. “The look on his face is priceless.”

“Dude,” Austin marvels, eyes sort of bugging out of his head. “Did you not hear what he said?” He points at the wolf standing in the doorway, eyes focused solely on Alex like he’s the only important thing in the world. “That wolf is your mate.”

-

If Jaime had known earlier on in their Bonded life that Tony was such a heavy cuddler, he’d have requested more sleepy times together because Jaime, for one, is deeply in favour of cuddles that involve melting together until you can’t tell where you end and the other person begins. And it’s so warm and cozy in Tony’s little bed-nest-thing, despite their varying body temperatures that Jaime never wants to leave. Tony’s arm around his waist tightens slightly, and Jaime curls further into Tony’s side, presses his face right up under Tony’s chin, and breathes deeply, eyes sliding shut as every fibre of his being relaxing, wrapped up warm and safe in the arms of his mate.

Until cold hands snake in under the blankets and chill him to the bone, grabbing him by the hips and yanking him out of the bed with so much speed and strength that he hits the wall on the opposite side of the room with a dull crack and a startled howl. He slips down the papered wall until his backside hits the ground, his knees buckling in shock, and he tries to sink into the plaster as the lanky vampire stalks towards him, fangs out and eyes flashing.

“Get away from him!” the vampire shrieks, an almost mad glint in his eyes, his fangs pressing wetly against his lips and tongue. “Get away!”

Jaime’s brain very quickly jumps to three conclusions: one, this is the vampire who opened the door, he recognises the voice. Two, he thinks it may also be Andy, the vampire Tony had been with prior to Bonding with Jaime. And three, he needs to move very quickly, or Andy might just snap his neck with the force of his anger behind his bite. “I’m sorry!” he squeaks, even though he’s not, throwing his hands over his face to protect it and hoping the apology stalls Andy long enough that Jaime can, like, jump out the window or something.

“Andy, leave him alone, you fuckface. If you _touch_ him, I swear to god I’m going to throw you down the stairs,” Tony grumbles, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He swings himself out of bed, moving into a blur to Andy’s side and bodily forcing the still-furious vampire out the door. “You need to sort your shit out,” he growls as he starts closing the door. “Because if you _threaten_ my mate ever again, in my mind, you throw away a hundred and ten years of friendship, and I will not hesitate to tear you limb from limb and set your remains on fire, _do you understand?_ ”

Nodding meekly, his scary expression melting away, Andy looks down at his feet. Tony doesn’t let him respond before slamming the door in his face.

He walks over and kneels in front of Jaime, who’s still pressed against the wall, a little in shock. “You okay?” he asks softly, taking Jaime’s hands and bringing them to his lips to press little kisses to the wolf’s knuckles. “He didn’t hurt you did he?”

Jaime shakes his head and pushes himself away from the wall and into Tony’s waiting arms. “He just scared me and woke me up from a good dream.”

Tony helps him to his feet. “Oh? Did it have something to do with me?” he asks, smiling down at Jaime sleepily.

“Maybe,” Jaime whispers, licking the corner of Tony’s lips affectionately.

Pulling the wolf in tight, Tony draws him into a deep kiss, making Jaime squeak slightly at the emotion behind it. “I love you,” the vampire tells him. “I hope you know that.”

“I do,” Jaime says with a smile, pressing their lips together again. “And I love you, too. All the way to the moon and back again.”

Tony laughs quietly, and then they’re both startled as the door gets thrown open and Alan flies in. “I heard screeching and came to see if anyone was dead!” he gasps, pressing a hand to his heart and staring at them with wide eyes. “No one died, right?”

Jaime buries his face in Tony’s neck, giggling uncontrollably at his ridiculous friend. “We’re fine, Alan. Just a minor disagreement with jealousy.” He turns his face to the door, still with his ear pressed to Tony’s cool skin. “Is it time to go now?”

Alan nods. “Vic and his mate are going to stop by the house when the sun goes down and help them back here.” His mouth is smiling, but Jaime can see that his eyes are sad, and, if he’s honest with himself, he understands. He really doesn’t want to leave Tony. They hardly ever get to see each other.

“Alright then,” Jaime says. “Let’s go.” He doesn’t move from Tony’s arms, whining softly under his breath. “Yep. Totally time to go.”

Rolling his eyes affectionately, Alan gently disentangles the two mates, tugging on Jaime’s elbow towards the door, allowing them one final kiss before they’re going back under the mesh screen and shifting into their wolf forms, setting off at a run.

-

There is absolute chaos inside the pack house when they get back. A very downtrodden-looking Jack is sitting in the corner of the main room, all sad and deflated, and Rian and Zack seem to be yelling at each other over his head. Then Jaime works out that they’re actually yelling at someone through the wall, and he guesses that its’ probably one of the vampires kipping in the resting room.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Alan demands above the noise, one hand on his hip and the other one trailing the bag of blood bags along the hardwood floor.

Zack breaks off his argument with a snarl and turns on Alan with glowing eyes. “Jack found his Bond.” He pauses, sucking a breath in through his nose. “And the leech rejected him.”

“Hey!” There’s a thump from the other side of the wall. “I did _not!_ I was just shocked. I didn't mean to throw him out of the room!”

“Shut up!” Rian barks, resting his knuckles on the plaster like he’d quite like to make a hole there.

Alan rolls his eyes at the two fuming wolves and marches up to the resting room door with his blood, smiling slightly as Jaime lopes over and sits next to Jack to comfort the forlorn pup. “I’m back, and your coven gave me blood,” he announces quietly, closing the door behind him.

The vampire he thinks is Alex is standing, well, sagging against the wall he’d just been banging on, cursing under his breath and pouting, and Alan just kind of leaves him there, walking slowly and sort of hesitantly towards the vampire still on the bed, the one Vic said was Austin. His mate.

“H-hey,” he stutters a little, and then smacks himself in the forehead. “Dork,” he mutters. Alan shakes himself and holds up the plastic bag. “I got you some blood. Vic got it, he said they’re your favourites, but I don’t know which is whi-” he’s cut off by the softest press of lips against his. He blinks, and they’re gone. “I.” He ducks his head, trying to cover his face with his spare hand.

“I’m sorry,” Austin whispers, and, peeking through his fingers, Alan realises that the vampire is also blushing, and he looks up. “I couldn’t help myself. I just…you’re my Bond. I thought that I’d never...never-”

Alan shushes him, pressing the plastic bag into his hands. “I know. Neither did I.”

He watches, intrigued and slightly grossed out, as the two vampires devour the blood bags; tearing the tabs off and pouring the liquid straight into their mouths. Austin is neat and precise, sticking the open corner of the bag in his mouth as well so he doesn’t spill any, but Alex has red stained all down his chin, small drops rolling over his neck, his fangs protruding and piercing the bag.

The door cracks open and Jack slips inside, approaching them slowly. “I got sick of their fighting, so I came to ask you myself.” He looks directly at Alex with so much hope and fear in his eyes that Alan thinks his chest constricts a little. “Are you going to reject my Bond?” he asks softly, fingers twisting together.

Lips still wrapped around the blood bag, Alex hesitates for a moment before haltingly shaking his head. “I don’t wanna do that,” he says, voice muffled.

Jack squeaks happily, and sits down on the floor at the foot of the bed Alex is sprawled on, waiting for him to finish his meal.

Alan bites his lip, shifts over slightly until his side is pressed up along Austin’s. The vampire still slightly, and smiles. Alan gulps. Alpha Purdy is not going to be happy about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh. I hate this chapter and it ended up like two pages longer than I wanted and I /still/ had to leave some scenes out :/


	5. Set The World On Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little heated.

**5 Human Years Later**

“Alex,” Vic’s voice is testy. “You’re moping again.”

Alex whines, keeping his face pressed firmly on the table-top. “I can’t help it!” he complains, turning his head slightly to fix Vic with one eye. “I miss him!”

Vic rolls his eyes and pours some blood into the soup he’s making. “I keep telling you, you could have stayed with him like Austin chose to-” there’s an angry growl from Andy at the mention of Austin, but Vic ignores him, as usual. “Or you could’ve done what Tony and Jaime do and alternate nights at each house.” Andy growls again and Vic throws a spoon at him. “You’re the one who chose to come back here and only see him every full moon when he runs out to the river.”

“Shut up, Vic,” Alex grumbles. “What are you, my mom?”

Sighing, Vic pulls out the chair next to Kellin and leans his head on his mate’s shoulder. “Sometimes it feels that way.”

Kellin pats him on the head affectionately, and shifts around a little until he can press his lips to Vic’s temples. “You look tired, baby,” he murmurs, brushing some of Vic’s hair off his face. “Did you come to bed at all this morning, or where you in the basement again?”

“I plead the fifth,” Vic says, like that answers Kellin’s question properly. He noses his way under Kellin’s jaw and kind of awkwardly slumps over sideways in his chair so he can both rest his head on Kellin’s chest and keep an eye on Andy, who is poking an unresponsive Alex with the butt of his lighter. “Andy, leave him alone,” he murmurs sleepily. He has no idea why he’s so tired. It’s nearly dark enough for them to go outside; he should be full of energy. Ever since he started working on his little Project, cooped up in the dusty basement with his books and papers, though, the sun-cycle has been affecting him less and less.

“Ugh, fine,” Andy grouses, pushing himself away from the table and standing up. “It’s ten o’clock. I’m going outside now.” And he stomps off, muttering about ‘stupid wolfy Bonds’ under his breath. “Where are my smokes..?” he pats down his pockets and finds an empty box in his jeans, but two slightly crumpled cigarettes from a different brand in his breast pocket. Snaking a hand under the mesh screen, he unlocks the door and breezes out into the night.

It’s summer, so the days are longer than usual, and even though it’s getting towards the darker side of late, there are still a few rays of sun peeking over the tree-tops, but not enough to reduce Andy to a scowling pile of ash. It is a mild annoyance, however, particularly when it shines into his eyes and temporarily blinds him as he’s fumbling with his lighter. Andy blinks away the white spots, and tries his best to straighten out his crumpled cigarette with one hand.

Above him, a window opens, and there’s a rush of air as Jinxx drops down from his second-story bedroom, landing softly in the grass at Andy’s feet, crouched down and looking up with bright eyes through his dark hair. “Andy alone again?” he asks, tilting his head like a bird and touching Andy’s knee worriedly with a single finger.

Andy nods, clicking on his lighter and putting his smoke between his lips. “Andy alone again.” He sighs, looking down at Jinxx, whose eyes are fixed on the tiny flame of his lighter as he lights up. “Here you go,” he murmurs, passing the lighter down. “Be careful, though,” he warns. “Vic will eat me if you get burned again.”

“Kay,” Jinxx hums, clicking the button and smiling brightly when the flame pops up. “Pretty…”

It’s been nineteen years, and Andy is still not sure what happened to Jinxx during his Turning to addle his mind so badly, limiting his speech and regressing him into an almost childlike state. Andy is also unsure of just what caused the younger vampire’s unnatural obsession with fire. He puts his cigarette to his lips and watches Jinxx play with the lighter as he smokes his way through first one, then a second, which he holds out to Jinxx for the younger vampire to light gleefully.

Beside him, the door cracks open and Justin pokes his head out, looking cautiously around in case Kellin comes looking for him for ‘family bonding time’. “He’s still upstairs,” Andy murmurs, and Justin’s whole face lights up.

“Freedom!” he hollers, sprinting out of the house and into the woods with a cry of, “I’m having real people tonight!”

The kitchen window cracks open and Kellin leans out. “Justin, come back and wait for the rest of us!”

“Fuck you!” Justin’s voice floats back, and Andy snorts, knowing that he’s probably already halfway to the town.

Almost like it was waiting for a cue, the entire coven suddenly comes to life with a burst of sound and activity from inside the house. All the boards came down and the windows creaked open to let in the moonlight, and there’s the usual thump and cursing as Mike sleepily trips down the stairs. The door flies open, the mesh screen getting ripped aside as Tony bolts out and towards the river without even sparing Andy a glance. Soon after, Kellin and Vic stroll out with their elbows linked like some kind of upper-class, well-to-dos with Jack following close behind; Phil creeping out after them, still as skittish as he was when he showed up on the doorstep months ago begging refuge from the humans who destroyed his own coven.

Andy stays leaning against the wall with Jinxx sitting cross-legged by his side, finishing off his smokes and trying to reign in the urge to kill something round and fluffy and decidedly Jaime-shaped. The fact that the wolf is so goddamned likeable and complements Tony perfectly just makes Andy hate him even more.

“Andy okay?” Jinxx asks worriedly, looking up at Andy with the lighter flames casting strange shadows on his sharp features.

“Sure,” Andy snorts, taking one last inhale and then dropping the butt while the cherry’s still glowing, exhaling a curl of smoke out the corner of his mouth. “If you say so.”

Jinxx frowns and pokes Andy’s knee with a pointy finger, whistling angrily. “Andy lying,” he mutters. “Andy in bad mood all the time. Vic says Andy misses wolf Alpha. Jinxx thinks Andy is being stupid.”

Andy palms Jinxx’s face a way and draws his knees together to get away from the ticklish poking. “Jinxx needs to stop talking to Vic. Vic’s full of shit.” He sulks, crossing his arms and sinking further into the wall of the house like the bricks can swallow him whole and take him away from everything. “I don’t miss the wolf. That’s dumb. He’s nothing to me. We didn’t Bond. I don’t give a fuck what Vic says about it.”

Jinxx snorts. “Andy in denial,” he sing-songs, waving the lighter around and giggling like a child.

Andy points at him threateningly. “You shut up!” he commands, but Jinxx just puts a hand over his mouth and giggles harder. Growling, Andy snatches his lighter back and stuffs it into his pocket, and they stay there pouting at each other comically until a twig snaps in the bush and both their heads snap towards the sound.

-

It takes Alex what feels like hours to get up from the kitchen table once Kellin and Vic swan off after Justin and Tony. Eyes half closed, he slumps towards the door, and bumps head-first into Mike as he picks himself up off the floor from his near-nightly tumble down the stairs. Alex himself struggles with the flight, which start off friendly and wide at the bottom, and then get nasty and spirally the closer to the attic you get. He thinks that the original architect of the house may have been drunk when designing them. Or tripping on the good shit.

Sluggishly, Alex pulls himself up to the second floor and sort of folds in on himself two steps from the landing. He maybe hasn’t been feeding for the past few days, and is now super weak and out of it, but he’s been feeling off for weeks. Since the last full moon, even, and the snobby-vampire part of his brain refuses to admit that it has anything to do with Jack, but the rest of him is screaming at him to go and find the wolf and maybe squash-cuddle him for a few days. He will forever – secretly, and never admitted to anyone – both admire and feel sorry for Tony for the excruciatingly long periods of time he was unable to see Jaime when they’d first Bonded oh so many years ago.

Moaning out a strange noise he thinks might be a whine, or a whimper, or something, Alex crawls along the corridor and shuffles into his room. He doesn’t even have the energy to climb up onto his bed, so he just completely flops down onto his lovely, lovely shagpile rug that he stole from Austin when he never came home from the pack house, and he curls up and stares at the dust bunnies under his bed until he slips into the coma-like state that vampires call ‘sleeping’.

-

Andy groans as Ashley meanders his way out of the trees. “I love you too, darling,” the wolf drawls, wandering over, the serious set of his face not quite matching the playful tone of his voice.

“Ugh, what the fuck do you want?” Andy snaps, turning his back and stomping towards the front door, Jinxx scrambling after him, sniggering quietly into his sleeve. Behind him, he hears Ashley huff out some curses, and he flips the wolf off over his shoulder.

Ashley marches after Andy and grabs the vampire by the shoulder, spinning him around with a firm grip and glaring up at him. “Listen up, princess,” he growls, eyes flashing. “I ain’t here on a curtesy call, and I haven’t come to try and woo your stubborn ass. I’ve come to warn you, so back your attitude up and _look at me_ for once!”

Andy flicks his eyes down to meet the glowing red eyes of the alpha werewolf. “ _What?_ ”

“There’s a group of humans heading this way,” Ashley sneers. “They killed both of the packs up in the mountains, and the cave coven. No one has heard anything from the pack near the ocean on the other side of the mountains, but the humans are closing in on the covens close to the river on this side.” He pauses, eyes grave. “That includes this house, Andy. This house, and the two little shacks on the other end of the big lake. The humans are coming for all of them.”

Shoving him off, Andy rolls his eyes. “Please, like any human could find their way to this house. Even some of the vampires who have been part of the coven for years have difficulty finding their way back to this house sometimes.” He laughs slightly. “Besides, where did you hear that from anyway?”

Ashley shakes his head. “Some of my wolves have been running messages back and forth, from here all the way up to the boarders of the Ancient’s territory.” His face grows dark. “Did you know that we’re now the largest pack in this area?”

That actually makes Andy pause for a moment. “What? But there are only nine of you! The pack in the mountains has at least thirty-”

“THE PACK IN THE MOUNTAINS IS DEAD, ANDY!” Ashley yells, before covering his mouth with his hands and breathing heavily. “They’re _dead!_ And now the humans are coming for us!” He turns his face away, and Andy can see his tears reflecting the lights of the house in the dark.

Neither of them say anything, Andy hovering awkwardly, not sure what to do, and Ashley silently mourns the loss of his kin, shoulders shaking slightly. He jumps as a hand settles on his knee, and he looks down through bleary eyes at Jinxx, who curls his fingers into the soft material of Ashley’s jeans.

“Wolf sad,” he says softly. “Humans make wolf sad.” Jinxx frowns and butts his forehead against Ashley’s thigh before looking back up at him. “Jinxx doesn’t like humans either. Humans tried to stake Jinxx and broke his violin.”

Ashley shoots Andy a ‘help me’ look, and Andy, thoroughly amused by Ashley’s distress, mimes petting Jinxx’s head, which Ashley does, carding his fingers in the knotted black bird’s nest. Instantly, Jinxx leans into the touch the same way any of Ashley’s Betas do when he relents and gives them scritches and cuddles. “Well,” Ashley says thickly, scrubbing his free hands over his cheeks. “That’s something you don’t see every day.”

“Jinxx is…special,” Andy says affectionately, smiling down at the younger vampire. He misses the ugly expression that crosses Ashley’s face, and by the time he looks back up it’s gone. “This house is well hidden,” he announces confidently. “We have the lake and the forest protecting us, and the night time hours on our side.” He nods, giving Ashley what is possibly his first ever genuinely thankful expression. “Thanks for your concern, and for…coming to warn me. I know that you’re breaking almost all of your own pack rules just by being here.”

Ashley shrugs. “I’m sure that Jaime has told you that those rules don’t apply to Bond mates.”

Andy hardens up again. “Whatever. That pup is an annoying piece of shit. Go away now please,” and he turns away slightly, crossing his arms and cocking his hip like a bratty child.

Rolling his eyes, and desperately wanting to stay and, like, _force_ Andy into taking proper precautions, Ashley just drops his shoulders and slinks back to the tree-line, hunching his back in preparation to shift. Just as his skin is starting to sprout black fur, he’s stopped as Andy calls out to him.

“Ashley, wait!”

Ashley’s half shifted when he looks over his shoulder, jaw protruding and joints reversing , and Andy takes a step back, slightly grossed out as he watches Ashley’s bones rearrange themselves under his skin and growing fur. “What do you want, Andy?” he garbles around his lengthening canines.

“How…” Andy frowns, suddenly nervous. “How is Austin?”

Ashley smiles a nightmare smile full of pointed teeth and ragged gums as his snout warps his human features. “He’s my favourite pack member.” And then he shifts completely and disappears into the trees, black fur camouflaging him as he runs back towards the pack house, leaving Andy standing there fish-facing until Jinxx tugs at his sleeve to get his attention.

-

“Andy, have you fed at all tonight?” is the first thing Vic says when he marches into the kitchen, Kellin following behind him with the usual bounce in his step he has after a good feed.

Andy grunts, not looking up from the piece of paper he’s scribbling on, and Jinxx waves at them from where he’s perched on the counter, playing with one of Andy’s many lighters. “Andy has not fed!” Jinxx giggles. “He has been drawing pictures of the wolf!” He lights the flame and waves it around. “It is very amusing.”

Vic hums. “Jinxx, what have I told you about the counter?”

“To not to,” Jinxx says mechanically, replicating Vic’s tone of voice perfectly, crawling down onto the tiled floor to sit by Andy’s feet.

Sighing, Vic gets Andy a blood bag out of the fridge, and pours it into a glass for him, and by the time he’s set it down in front of the younger vampire, Justin and Jack have both come back, and Justin says that Tony’s gone to stay at the pack house, and that he saw Phil on his way back and he shouldn’t be too far behind.

“It was really quiet in town tonight,” he adds as he turns to head up the stairs. He’s not particularly sociable, and he spends most of his time on his own. “It was like half the population was just…off somewhere else.”

Kellin shrugs. “Ah well. As long as everyone got a proper feed.” And he goes and sits down by Vic, who is standing over Andy, watching the younger drink his blood.

“Good boy,” Vic declares, patting Andy on the head once he’s done, and ignoring the, ‘I’m not a fucking dog,’ that gets spat at him. “Now, does anyone know where Alex is? I didn’t see him leave the house.” When everyone shakes their heads, Vic sighs again and checks the clock on the wall. “Well, I’m going back down to the basement. If anyone needs me before the moon comes up again, I’m busy.” And then he kisses Kellin softly and slips away.

Kellin huffs under his breath and tilts his chair back on two legs, watching his mate disappear down the stairs until he hears the basement door slam shut. “Does anyone actually know what he’s doing down there?” he asks the room at large after a moment or two. “He always comes back up smelling like smoke and ink.”

“Austin knew,” Jack murmurs. “He was Vic’s guinea pig. Well, that’s what he said, anyway.”

Kellin pouts. “No fair. Why can’t _I_ know?”

“Get over it,” Andy drawls, crumpling his piece of paper up and throwing it away over his shoulder.

Jinxx goes skittering after it and flattens it out, tucking it into his shirt to keep for later when Andy decides he actually does want to keep it and add it to the secret pile of drawings of Ashley he has stashed under his bed. Snickering quietly into his hand, Jinxx crawls back over to Andy and amuses himself with the laces of the elder’s boots until a noise outside catches his attention. Jinxx lifts his head and follows the noise of pounding feet with his head cocked until the front door bursts open and Phil sprints in, barefooted and panicked-looking.

“Get out!” he yells, clutching hand to the door frame and bending over panting. “Get out, everyone _out_!”

There’s dead silence as everyone stares at him like he’s grown a second head.

“Excuse me?” Andy asks with an arched eyebrow.

Phil shakes his head, his hands trembling. “You all need to get out! There’s about a hundred humans heading this way with flamethrowers!” His voice hitches. “They’re going to set the house ablaze!”

And that’s when the kitchen window explodes open.

-

The only light in the basement is the naked lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, and Vic’s little handheld torch that he’s using for closer inspection of the book he’s reading.

Ever since he’d discovered his little…power…he’d been trying to harness it properly. Bond-seeing was only one aspect of what he knew he could do, and by now he’d taught himself to shield from Andy’s Compulsion – something the other vampire, too, couldn’t fully control yet – but his goal for the last few years has been to use his powers to protect his coven from things like the sun, and the other limitations their species was faced with.

His sun charm was close to working – Austin and Alex had proved that – but with Austin gone, he had no way of testing it on anyone, because he didn’t want to get the others involved until he knew it would work.

Sighing, he turns the page, continuing his nightly search for anything that would clue him into how to get a charm to stick to their skin. He’d learned the hard way that vampire skin was impervious to needles, which ruled out his original idea of tattoos.

Vic is so engrossed in his reading that he doesn’t hear the windows upstairs shattering, or the hollers and yelling from the people outside. When the smoke starts pouring in from the outside entrance to the basement, and then the kitchen stairs, he blinks, looking up and around, brows furrowed as he wonders where it’s all coming from.

Then he sees the flames starting to dance their way down the wooden steps, and cold panic grips at him. His flame charm is nowhere near ready enough to even _think_ of pulling an Austin and just winging it.

He’s trapped.

-

Up on the second floor, Alex sleeps on, too exhausted and weak for shattering glass and screaming to permeate his sleep. Smoke starts curling up through the floorboards, and he just rolls over, completely oblivious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna say thanks to the people who are reading this. It's kinda out there, pretty slow moving, and is entirely my 'I Hate Twilight And Also Bad Fanfiction Wank'. I really appreciate the comments from Lex, and all the kudos you guys left. I know this isn't my usual style, but I'm mainly writing it because it's fun to write, so...yeah. I lost where that was going.   
> ~Prin out.
> 
> Oh, spoiler for next time - there's going to be the first 'official' death in the next chapter, just so you know. Only one though, so start taking bets :)


	6. Save Me A Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's a fire. And some blood. Oh, and someone dies.

Mike comes crashing down the stairs as Jack is picking shards of glass out of his skin, and Andy kicks the chair off him from where it landed in the explosion. Through the hole in the wall that used to be a window, they see what can only be described as an angry mob. Phil wails, cowering against the door frame like he's going to sink into the wood and disappear.

There's a strange, gassy-hiss from outside, and a ball of flames shoots through the air and crashes into the side of the house with a sickening whoosh and the crackle of burning paint. All hell breaks loose as the vampires scramble to pick themselves up and get to the door.

Andy grabs hold of Jinxx's arm and drags the younger vampire to the hall. He knows already that the humans have barricaded the door, but Kellin downs it with a full-body thrust, and they all spill out into the night, Mike scooping Phil up and slinging him over his shoulder just as another volley of flames are shot through the remains of the kitchen window. The table ignites, and the flames start licking up the walls.

The humans meet them with weapons raised, but they couldn't have picked a worse time to try and ambush a vampire coven; the moon was still high and they'd all just fed, leaving them at the peak of their strength. It was almost a too-easy fight, and a bloodbath as they tear apart the people who had threatened their family as their house burns down behind them.

Somewhere between drinking someone's blood and doing a war dance on a smashed up flame-thrower, bathed in the light of the flames in the kitchen, Andy loses his hold on Jinxx, but doesn't have much time to think about it, because suddenly, over the roar of the brawl, he hears Kellin screaming.

"VIC! VIC!" Kellin's voice cracks as it rises higher in pitch. "VIC!"

Andy spots him on his knees near the foot of the house, alternating between fighting and punching the bricks that make up the top of the basement wall. That's when Andy realises that Vic is still inside the burning house, down in the basement, the door of which would have been almost directly hit by the second lot of flames. Andy suddenly feels like his stomach has dropped out his ass, and he punches the next human to come at him so hard he knocks the man's jaw clean off his face in a spray of blood.

There's another glassy-shattering, and the attic window bursts open to emit a plume of brown smoke and Justin as he comes hurtling towards the fray, landing clean on top of the man trying to ram his stake into Kellin's back. "Don’t' say I never help you, old man," he spits, before leaping into the thick of the fight with his fangs extended.

The crowd of humans starts to thin out as the pile of dead bodies grows larger. All the vampires are covered in blood that's slowly being dried by the heat of the fire. Andy currently doesn't feel anything about the house, but he knows that as soon as the last human is dead, it'll all come crashing down on him that the only place he's ever called home burnt to the ground in front of his eyes. He looks over his shoulder, and Kellin is still chipping away madly at the bricks of the house, trying to reach his mate. Andy knows that he won't make it in time; everything in the basement is dry wood and brittle paper - it'll go up like a match when the flames touch it.

Just as Andy thinks it couldn't get any worse, he suddenly hears a startled yelp from Kellin of, "Jinxx! No!" and jerks around to see Jinxx wandering into the fiery maw that is the front door, a marvelled, wondrous expression on his face.

Andy feels rough hands grab at him, trying to pull him around, but his eyes are stuck on Jinxx, on his friend, his brother as he walks into the flaming house.

It like everything slows down, moving in slow motion as Andy grabs the wrists of the hands touching him, pulling until there's a crack, a rip, and a squelch and he's throwing arms away on either side of him as he breaks into a run. The shortest run of his life - all of ten feet - is also the longest, and he feels like he's running through molasses as he yells out Jinxx's name.

Jinxx pauses and turns around in the doorway, smiling brightly at Andy. "It's so pretty," he says, taking a step inside.

If his heart was still beating, Andy knew it would be leaping into his throat as he screams, "STOP!" with that double timbre in his voice they call his Compulsion and everything around him does just that. Stops. Every human and vampire just stops, and Andy screeches to a halt. "Jinxx," he pants, putting his hands on his knees to support his heaving torso. "Come away from there, it's not safe." He says it normally, without his Compulsion, knowing that it just makes Jinxx angry when it's used on him.

Jinxx just smiles again and giggles as he takes another step inside, reaching out his hands to touch. As he's engulfed in flames, Andy's Compulsion breaks and the fight resumes, but Andy just falls to his knees, screaming silently as he watches Jinxx burn away to ash.

-

Rian rolls over and glares at Jack’s pacing figure in the dark. “Oh for fucks’ sake,” he groans, scrubbing at his face with the heel of his hand. “What’s up this time?”

“Can’t sleep,” Jack says shortly. “Something’s wrong.”

“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” Zack grunts, still basically asleep and curled up in the corner.

A pillow comes sailing across the room and hits Jack in the side of the face. “Go the fuck to sleep,” Gabe growls, tugging his blanket up over his head and burrowing his face into his arms.

Jesse continues to snore loudly, passed out on his back and tangled up in his blanket. Jack has to delicately step over him whenever his pacing takes him to that area of the room.

They were all dead tired. Alpha Purdy had them all running errands up into the mountains all day, and some of the older wolves – like Jesse and Tino – had been gone all week, beyond the mountains and up into the Forbidden Lands of the Ancients in search of surviving packs and covens. And Jack, who had attempted to get out to the ocean with Alan, just…can’t get to sleep. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Alex, and he sees fire, and he doesn’t know what to think about that.

A howl echoes from outside, and then the door flies open and Jaime comes bowling in, toppling head over heels with Tony wrapped around his wriggling wolf-body, Tino following behind with a snort, shutting the door with his back leg. The others all groan and change positions, covering exposed ears with pillows and blankets and hands, and other people’s body parts in Gabe’s case as he flops over and smushes his face into Jesse’s armpit, pulling Jesse’s arm over the side of his head.

Jack keeps pacing, not even sparing the cuddling Bond pair a second glance as Jaime shifts as he continues to worry his lip and drag his toes over the soft carpets of the den. He’s still pacing long after the others are asleep, and Austin has returned from hunting, sitting down beside Alan and watching Jack levelly as his mate curls into his lap.

“What’s up, pup?” he asks softly, carding his fingers in Alan’s hair. “You look constipated.”

Jack huffs in the back of his throat. “Don’t know. Alex.” He shrugs, catches his foot on Tino’s tail and stumbles slightly. “Fuck. Something feels…off.”

He’s still pacing, legs starting to cramp with the restricted and repetitive movement, when Rian bolts up again panting and wide eyed. He blinks, and Jack thinks he sees a tear track its way down Rian’s cheek, and looks around. “What…”

Rian’s always had better ears than any werewolf Jack has ever come across.

“Humans,” Rian whispers. “There’s a whole group of them. They’re close.”

Only then does Jack stop his pacing, tilting his head to the side and concentrating. He can hear feet tramping messily through the woods, and the dull hum of angry voices, but they seem to be getting quieter; further away.

“They must be heading towards the river,” Zack says softly, and both Rian and Jack jump, neither having noticed he was awake.

Jack nods, resuming his pacing as Rian settles back down on his side. Then Jack freezes. "The coven house is by the river!" he exclaims just as there's a breath of wind as the door opens.

"Don't even bother," Alpha Purdy grumps as he stomps into the house, slamming the door and causing a new wave of complaints as he wakes everyone up again. "I've already told the berk of a coven leader that there's a gang of humans heading straight for them, armed to the teeth with flaming torches and pitch forks." He grumbles something under his breath and glowers at the floor. "He thinks they'll be fine because the house is 'too hard to find'," he affects a comedic deep voice and waves his arms around.

Austin giggles quietly. "Perfect Andy imitation," he whispers to himself, before sobering up and saying, "But…what if they do find the house?"

Alpha Purdy mimes striking a match, throwing it at something, and then makes an explosion noise. Because he's mature.

Jack whines high in the back of his throat. "We need to do something!" he demands, eyes wide and nostrils flaring. "I…I think Alex is in danger. I keep. I keep seeing him trapped in a fire…."

"Alright," Austin says quietly. "I know what you mean. I sometimes see Alan when he's doing something dangerous…like when the two of you thought it was a good idea to ask some mermaids if they knew where the pack who lives 'near the sea' is." He purses his lips, looking mildly disapproving for a second, before running his fingers through Alan's hair again.

Alpha Purdy sighs. "I really don't want any of you to go, because I don't want anyone in this pack hurt…but there are Bonds and friends in that house, and if you want to go I really can't stop-" he staggers suddenly, mouth dropping open with a gasp. "Oh god. Okay, change of plans. Jack, Austin, get up. We’re going right now." He puts a hand to his temple like he's got a headache and winces. "Shit."

-

Vic cowers against the wall of the basement, hissing as his hands brush the slowly heating stones. Tears roll down his cheeks as the fire advances across the room, reducing nearly forty years of research into ash as it consumes his desk and shelves of books. The air is thick with smoke, and for once he's grateful that he can just shut his mouth and not worry about breathing. He can feel the heat on his face and neck, and when he closes his eyes he can see Kellin out in the dark outside, trying to find a way to get back to him.

As his hands start to shake and his legs begin to tremble, Vic sinks down to the floor, pulling his knees up and resting his head on them. The stones around him are almost too hot for him to touch, and he's sobbing so hard he can't think. He can hear the crackle of the flames and the ominous creaking of the floorboards above him. He's going to die. He knows it.

Closing his eyes and wrapping his arms over his head, Vic focuses on Kellin, shutting the fire and the basement and everything out, and then pushes out his 'mental eye' until he can see Mike, and then Andy and Jinxx, and Jack, and Phil, and Justin leaps out the attic window to land safely outside too. He breathes a sigh of relief. At least he can die knowing that his family is safe.

But then he finds Alex, asleep upstairs and he freezes, eyes snapping open. Alex is still inside!

Everything comes rushing back to him as he pushes himself to his feet, palm sizzling against the hot stones of the wall, and all he can think about is getting to Alex. Saving his family. He pushes harder against the wall, trying to get his adrenaline-shaky legs to cooperate, and through the white-hot burn, he can feel all the lines of the wall under his hand, like a map suddenly before him. Before Vic can even begin thinking about what he's doing, he shifts his hand slightly, curling his fingers into the 'lines' and shoves forwards.

The bricks blow outwards and Vic is knocked over in the aftershocks, throwing his arms up to shield his head from the debris. When the dust is settling, he gasps in the cool air flowing in from outside, and scrambles out the hole in what's left of the wall just as the flames close in behind him.

He collapses on the grass a few feet away and throws up, his entire body twitching with adrenaline and magic, and he tries to stand, mind stuck on AlexAlexAlex. Vic stumbles half a step forwards and crumples, everything around him going numb and black, like blowing the wall had expelled all his energy. Lying on the ground, facing the burning house, he hears running feet behind him, and a dark shape goes sailing over him and in through the second story window as long-fingered hands close around his shoulders.

"Come on, Vic," Austin breathes, pulling Vic into his arms and cradling the smaller vampire as he stands. "Let's get you out of here."

Vic stares at him in a daze with glassy eyes. "Austin…" he marvels. "You've come back." He's still crying, the tears tracking clean lines down his ash-coated face. "Where's Kellin?"

Austin smooths Vic's hair down and carries him into the shadow of the trees. "He's fine, he's fine. Alpha Purdy is helping them out. Just go to sleep Vic, it'll all be okay when you wake up."

Vic nods, childlike, as his eyes slip shut. "Okay…"

-

Alex wakes up coughing, and wondering why he's coughing. He raises a hand to his mouth to smother the sound and blindly tries to kick off the heavy blanket that's way overheating him. It takes his sleep-addled brain a moment to realise that there is no blanket, and that he's coughing because the air is full of smoke.

He takes a moment to ponder on just why the air is full of smoke, and then he sees it curling up through the floor boards, and the singed edges of his rug and he shrieks, startled, rolling off the rug and bumping his back against the bed. There's a fire somewhere in the house. What the fuck?

Alex tries to get to his feet, but he's still so exhausted that the most he can do is climb weakly to his knees, leaning heavily on the mattress as he begins to really feel the effects of the crippling heat pouring up from the floor downstairs. The mattress quivers under his hands, and he jerks back as one of the springs gives way, weakened by the heat.

Getting to his feet is impossible. His legs are like jelly and Alex just can't get them to stay upright and still enough to bear his weight. Letting out a frustrated groan, maybe tinged at the edges with panic and holy-fuck-I'm-going-to-die, he falls back to his knees as his room gets impossibly hotter. In one corner now, he can see flames peeking up through holes burned in the wood, and he curses Vic and Andy for making everything in the house out of timber and other flammable materials.

When the flames have slowly eaten their way almost halfway across the room, Alex starts openly crying, pressing his hands to his face and scooting under the bed, curling up and calling out weakly for help.

He doesn't want to die. He wants to die when he's lived for a thousand years and he'll sit and watch his first sunrise in a millennium. He wants to see the world and eat human food again. He wants to tell Jack that he loves him. He wants to…Wait. Breath hitching, Alex closes his eyes and tries to focus on his Bond, the way Vic says he should be able to. He has no clue if it works or not, because all he can hear is the white noise that would be blood pumping in his ears if he were still human.

"Jack," he whimpers aloud. "Jack, I don't know if you can hear me, or if I'm just talking to the fire, but I just want to say that I love you, I really do, and I've been so stupid trying to stay away from you like I have been. It was my stupid pride getting in the way and telling me I didn't need you, but I do. I do need you, I need you more than I need blood, and that's saying something."

Vaguely, over the sound of his shaking voice and the roar of the flames, Alex can hear breaking glass and screaming from outside. He curls up a little tighter and puts his hands over his ears, concentrating on his words.

"If I'm going to die in this fire, then just know that I do love you, and I'm sorry, and I ask you to forgive me, okay Jack? Please don't hate me."

Then the bed gets ripped away and Alex squeals as the heat hits him full force. Something cool and wet nudges the heated skin of his neck, and he opens his eyes to a big brown wolf nosing at him gently, tiny shards of glass glittering orange in its fur.

"Jack!" he gasps, and he throws his arms around Jack's neck.

Jack snorts and shakes his head, and Alex gets the message. 'I love you too, idiot. Now let's go.' And he manages to manoeuvre Alex up onto his back, where the vampire clings on for dear life as the wolf jumps out the window again, hardly stumbling as his paws hit the grass.

Jack runs for a moment and then kneels down on his front legs so Alex can slide onto the ground, breathing rapidly and trying to stop his crying. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…" he chants, rolling onto his side in the foetal position. There are some cracking noises behind him, and then a decidedly human Jack pulls him up into his lap, rocking him gently and stroking his sooty hair.

"It's okay, Alex," Jack hums quietly. "It's okay. You're safe now, I saved you. You're safe now…" he kisses Alex's temple. "And I love you, too."

-

Andy can't even move as one of the humans advances on him with a flame thrower, the hose pointed straight at him. All he can see is that last smile Jinxx had given him. He feels the heat of the flames on his back, but before they actually touch him, he's knocked aside by Mike, who growls, and then there's more screaming and more blood, and Andy just sort of…slumps over and stares off into the night. He feels empty.

Jinxx was his closest companion in the coven, including Vic, who was the closes thing Andy had to blood-family since his actual family died a couple of decades ago.

Up the back of the fight, where Phil is swinging people up into the trees like some kind of jungle cat and coming back down with a new bloodstain, there's a new kind of screaming as a moving shadow pounces out of the tree line and starts shredding limbs apart. Andy blinks, focus drawn to the dark spot in an effort to keep himself thinking. And, oh, it's not a moving shadow. It's Ashley. In wolf form.

Something nudges at Andy's brain. Sort of like someone whispering 'You'll be okay, it's okay…' into his ear. Just like that, his brain kicks back into motion, and with Jinxx's smile burnt into his brain and Ashley's words ringing in his head, he climbs shakily to his feet.

"Freeze," he Compels softly. "All humans freeze."

There's a jarring moment for the vampires as all their adversaries suddenly stop moving, and Jack actually face-plants in the bloody grass out of shock as he sails past his frozen mark.

Andy's Compulsion is dripping with hate and anger and grief as he says, "Leave this place. Follow the river back to your town and warn your people to fear the darkness." The blue glow in his eyes gets more intense the longer he speaks, and backed by the red glow of the fire, he looks the picture of the avenging angel, standing in cold fury as he delivers his wrath. "Go!" he yells suddenly, snarling. "Stay away from here!"

Within minutes, the only humans left in front of the house are the ones who were already dead, and there's a minute of silence as everyone assesses everyone else for damage. Ashley trots over to Andy and bumps the vampire with his shoulder as Andy's knees give out. Before he knows what he's doing, Andy's tangled his fingers in the thick fur and he's dry-sobbing so hard he thinks he's going to pass. Everything around him is a hot, smoky blur, and his brain is just stuck on JinxxVicJinxxVix.

Ashley shifts underneath him, and human arms wrap around him, and he curls into a human chest, fingers clutching skin so tightly he can smell the metallic-woody scent of wolf-blood under his nails.

A cold hand suddenly settles on his face, and a voice says, "Andy."

Andy slides his glazed-over eyes up to, "Austin…" his voice cracks. "Austin, it's you."

Austin smiles weakly. "Hey." Then he gently takes Andy's chin in his fingers and turns his face slightly. "Look, Andy. Look, there's Vic. He's okay." He point to where Kellin has the sleeping Vic caged protectively in his arms. Andy's chest stutters like he's just inhaled too much air. "Everyone's okay, Andy. Alex is okay, Vic is okay, you're okay." Out of the corner of his eye, Andy sees another wolf emerge from the trees in human form, Alex held against him gently

Andy shakes his head. "No. No, Jinxx isn't okay. Jinxx isn't okay…" Ashley's arms tighten around him and he pushes against him more firmly, heart seeking any kind of comfort it can get.

A murmur goes around the coven as they all notice the absence of Andy's little shadow, and they all look a little sad at the loss. None of them knew Jinxx like Andy did, but he was still part of the coven; still a member of the family.

"We need to go," Mike breaks the silence, hovering by Kellin's elbow and carding his fingers through his brother's hair. He points his free hand to the sky. "The sun will be rising in a few hours, and we no longer have a house. We need to find shelter."

Ashley shakes his head. "Come with us. Our pack house is plenty large enough."

"Ngh," Andy groans. "No!" Even traumatised, he's still stubborn.

Ashley just rolls his eyes. "You don't get a choice in this, love. Unless you want the rest of your coven to burn away in front of you."

It's a low blow, and all the other vampires growl at him, but it works, and Andy sinks back against Ashley in defeat. "Fine. But only until we find somewhere else. And I want that bitch kept away from me."

A few confused looks are thrown around the vampires, but Ashley just nods. "I'll keep Jaime away from you, don't worry." He stands, tentatively setting Andy on his feet. "Can you walk?" At Andy's nod, he starts to shift again. "Alright, let's go then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this seems really rushed, but I want to get all this early stuff out of the way so I can get to the meat of the story. Also, sorry about Jinxx :P


End file.
